The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

In his weekly address to the nation this morning, President Obama announced the creation of a new “College Score Card” that his administration believes will help students get a better understanding of what they’re committing to before they buy.

Similarly, the card will show the debt burden of a school’s graduates, and how many of those grads are able to pay down that debt.

The score card is a project in its early stages. The president says it will be improved upon and tweaked in the months to come as the administration gets feedback from students, parents, school counselors, and colleges.

Why offer these score cards when there are already seemingly countless annual reviews and rankings of schools? Many of those ratings treat the issue of cost and return on investment as a secondary issue to things like campus life, famous faculty and alumni, and athletics.

“The status quo serves some colleges and the companies that rank them just fine,” says the president. “But it doesn’t serve our students well – and that doesn’t serve any of us well. There are colleges dedicated to helping students of all backgrounds learn without saddling them with debt. We should hold everybody to that standard. Our economic future depends on it.”

We have yet to review the score card to see how its information stacks up against already available data in terms of accuracy and clarity, but we intend to keep our eye on the program as the school year progresses toward college application season.